CIA Chief says Agency Did Not Hack Senate Computers

CIA director John Brennan says the spy agency did not hack into computers the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee was using to investigate Bush-era interrogation programs.

Speaking at a Council on Foreign Relations event, Brennan said, "Nothing could be further from the truth. We wouldn't do that."

Earlier, Intelligence Committee head Senator Dianne Feinstein said the CIA improperly searched the computers. She said on the Senate floor Tuesday, she has "grave concerns that the CIA's search may well have violated the separation of powers principles embodied in the U.S. Constitution."

Feinstein said the CIA inspector general referred the matter to the Justice Department for investigation of a possible "criminal violation by CIA personnel."

The CIA provided the computers for the panel to review millions of pages of top-secret documents during its investigation into the CIA's alleged use of torture.

Feinstein also refuted reports that her committee's staff hacked into CIA computers to obtain an internal report on the agency's interrogation and detention program. She said the internal CIA report, known as the "Panetta Review" after then-CIA Director Leon Panetta, was obtained with a search tool obtained from the CIA, not through unauthorized means.

The Justice Department has also been asked to review whether there was any wrongdoing in Senate staffers' removal of CIA documents.